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AC Milan captain
Gennaro Gattuso has escaped an assault charge for his head butt on
Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach Joe Jordan, UEFA said on Thursday.

A spokesman said
the 33-year-old midfielder had been charged with the lesser offence of
gross unsporting conduct which, according to UEFA’s disciplinary code,
carries a “suspension for one competition match or for a specified
period”.

Gattuso will find out the extent of his punishment on Monday.

The charge of
assault carries a minimum three-match ban and European soccer’s
governing body also has a provision for serious assault which would
carry a minimum five-match suspension.

Gattuso has apologised for what he called “inexcusable” behaviour.

The former Italy
international grabbed Jordan by the throat and pushed him out by the
touchline during the Champions League last-16 first leg at the San Siro
which Tottenham won 1-0 on Tuesday.

Gattuso also head butted the Spurs assistant coach after the final whistle before being pulled away by team mates.

The Milan player has already been banned from the second leg after picking up a yellow card in Tuesday’s match.

Former Scotland
striker Jordan, with his trademark missing teeth during his playing
days, won a reputation as a hard man in spells with Leeds United,
Manchester United and AC Milan.

Gennaro Gattuso could face a sizable ban for his headbutt on Tottenham
Hotspur assistant coach Joe Jordan after UEFA said on Wednesday it was opening
a disciplinary case against the AC Milan captain.

Gattuso grabbed Jordan by the throat and
pushed him on the touchline during the Champions League last 16 first leg game
at the San Siro, which Tottenham won 1-0, and headbutted him after the final
whistle before being pulled away by team mates.

The 33-year-old former Italy midfielder later apologised for what he called
“inexcusable” behaviour while Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp called
the Italian firebrand “crazy”.

“I know I shouldn’t have done it,” Gattuso told reporters.
“For the whole of the second half I was sworn at by Jordan. I just got
crazy, I lost my mind and I take responsibility.”

Gattuso, nicknamed “Rino”, played for Scottish Premier League side
Rangers in the 1997/98 season while Jordan, 59, is a former Scotland striker
with a reputation as a hard man who also played for Leeds United, Manchester United
and Milan.

“He talked Scottish, I talked Scottish, he’s Scottish and I played in
Scotland so that’s it,” Gattuso said.

“I will never tell you what we said to each other but it was my
fault.”

Flare up

“I don’t know why it all got so silly,” said Redknapp.
“Gattuso had a flare up with Joe Jordan. He obviously hadn’t done his
homework. He put his head into Joe’s face as well. It was crazy. He lost his
head during the game.”

Gattuso has already been suspended for the return in London on March 9 after
being booked during Tuesday’s match for a foul on Steven Pienaar after which he
banged his fist on the ground repeatedly in anger knowing he would miss the
second leg.

UEFA said in a statement its Control and
Disciplinary Body would meet on Monday, February 21 to discuss the case
following “incidents” in the game, which flared up on several
occasions.

The European governing body has in the past dealt harshly with players who
have failed to control their temper.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was banned for six UEFA matches, two of them
deferred, for his improper behaviour in their Champions League semi-final
against Barcelona in 2009.

The Ivorian Drogba harangued the referee after the final whistle, screaming
insults and then launched a foul-mouthed tirade towards a live television
camera.

REUTERS

Sunshine
Stars are four points behind league leaders Dolphin FC of Port-Harcourt
but the Akure-based side will hope to reduce the gap when they play
Ocean Boys in one of Sunday’s fixtures in the Nigeria Premier League
(NPL).

Sunshine have
enjoyed a blistering home form in their adopted home ground in Abeokuta
winning all their matches, and will be hoping that league leaders,
Dolphins stutter as they also travel to Kano to play against Zamfara
United today.

Gbenga Odubote who
is in charge of Sunshine Stars is already looking beyond today’s match
as he remains certain that his team will win its first league title at
the end of the 2010/2011 season.

Sunshine was
unlucky to lose 1-0 by Dolphins in their last match, in the opinion of
Coach Odubote, who said, “We did not deserve to lose”.

“We did not deserve
to lose that game because Dolphin did not play better than us but that
is football and we have to forget that game and move on,” Ogunbote told
SuperSport.com.

The former Gateway
FC handler said the team has no excuse not to win today’s game and also
do well in the league overall as the club management have been very
responsive to the team’s needs “Financial entitlements to the players
are paid as at when due and that is enough motivation to the players.
So there is no excuse for failure,” he said.

“We want to win the
league title and we will achieve that target. We have the players to do
the job and the sponsors have been wonderful,” he concluded.

Sunshine Stars are
second on the NPL log with 26 points from 14 matches; and a win against
Ocean Boys could cut Dolphins lead to just one point – if Dolphins do
not get any change in Kano.

Dolphins seek win
at difficult Zamfara Aware of the hot breath on their neck, Dolphins FC
will be seeking to extend their lead at with a win in Kano against
Zamfara United though they know it will not be an easy task.

Dolphins currently
lead the table with 30 points from 14 games, four points clear of their
closest rivals, Sunshine Stars who are at home this weekend.

Dolphins also have one of the best away forms this season, having picked up
maximum points on the road on two occasions, in Jos against Plateau
United and in Ilaro against Crown but Dolphins have never picked a
point on the road to Zamfara United in the history of both clubs.

Last season,
Dolphins lost 3-2 despite leading 2-1 until the 87th minute and in 2007
the year Dolphins were relegated, they also lost 1-0 to Zamfara United.

Other matches It
will be a clash of two teams with identical form guide of just one win
each in their last five games. Though the Flying Antelopes may have won
this same game last season by with a two-goal margin, Alphonsus Dike’s
men are yet to score in the last 270 minutes of football in the league.
However against a Kwara United team who have been awful in recent
times, Rangers might just get back their scoring boots today to add to
the 17 goals that they have scored at the Nnamdi Azikwe this season but
with no goals scored away.

Also in Ijebu Ode,
Shooting Stars will have to put behind them the one year ban handed to
their star striker Gbolahan Salami as they play bottom side, Jos
University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) Football Club. Though the Oluyole
Warriors have been far from impressive in their last two home matches,

the team is expected to get back to winning ways against a JUTH side yet to score any point away from home.

The last Sunday fixture is between two teams meeting for the first
time ever in the top flight; Bukola Babes and Lobi Stars. Bukola Babes
who many have described as the revelation team of this season will not
only want to maintain their unbeaten run but also garner the maximum
three points to maintain her status as a top four team on the league
table.

We have wasted the
years destroying the foundation of sports development. The emphases
have been on developing sports from the top.

We turned the pyramid over and stood it on a fragile base, its tip.

Governments,
individuals and organisations, all out in search of immediate
popularity, have built a culture of pseudo-professionalism in sports.
They pour money into irrelevant projects that hamper the future of
sports in several ways.

A good example is
the Super Eagles and the World Cup. If for any reason the Super Eagles
win the World Cup, it would mean nothing, I repeat nothing for Nigerian
sports because we do not have the structures to explore the vast impact
of a World Cup victory. We have shown these many times over.

Though I strongly
advocate government’s investment in sports, this investment must be on
sports development. It should not be money spent on payment of
allowances to the Super Eagles, while other sports cannot get training
grounds, coaches and equipment. We are not against the Super Eagles
earning $10,000 (N1.5 million) a game, or whatever the going rate is.
The Nigeria Football Federation should find that money, so that
government can invest the money it currently spends on football – and a
lot more – on enduring ventures. Government money should be wisely
spent on facilities, scholarships and training.

Private sector participation

Sports development
is impossible without sponsorships from the private sector. Such
sponsorships will come when government has laid the proper foundations
for sports development through policies and its own investments. The
emphasis should be on sports development, rather than promotion.

The constant
reference to the world as a global village, which initially tended to
look at the mass media, has spread to all aspects of life, more than 40
years since the Canadian mass communication scholar Marshall McLuhan
came up with the idea. Making sports development professional would
entail getting help from all parts of the world. We must search for the
best hands for this. There are many Nigerian sports people abroad, well
educated, professional, patriotic and willing to return home to revive
Nigerian sports.

Even at home, there are many of them who have no place in sports because of the narrow patterns used in sports administration.

The challenges
Sports development without the schools will not work. At the school
levels, athletes are young, teachable and have the energy for sports.

Without sports
development, there would be no proper professional sports. It is time
we re-enthroned the roles that the Conference of Principals of
Secondary Schools in Nigeria used to play in sports development through
the Schools Sports Federation of Nigeria. A similar structure is
necessary for primary schools.

Without the
co-operation of the Federal Ministry of Education, this programme would
run into grave difficulties, especially in the areas of scheduling
sports events and training to avoid clashes with school programmes.

A matter of urgency

The federal
government should, as a matter of urgency, fully implement the free
meals in primary schools and subsidised meals in secondary schools, as
an interim measure to counter the growing cases of mal-nutrition among
Nigerian children. Many children would be in school even if it is for
the meals and sports.

A census of
educational institutions about 10 years ago, located 42,000 public
primary schools in Nigeria. This illustrates the enormity of the
challenge of developing sports. Let us for this purpose stick to
football. If there are six classes in each of those schools and we are
providing two balls per class (remember female football), we will
require 504,000 balls. Can one ball last a class for a year? If we give
them two balls, we are talking of 1,008,000 annually. At only N5,000 a
ball, getting balls to the primary schools alone would cost about N5.04
billion. The truth is that most of the primary schools have more than
two streams per class. I doubt if there are up to 100,000 balls in all
the sports stores in Nigeria today. There are more than 30 other sports
requiring various equipment, at various levels.

It is up to the government to attract investors to take up this business opportunity by manufacturing the equipment here.

Sports development has to start at the primary school level.

Physical education
trainers should be provided for these schools, using the Local
Government Areas as the base. There are currently 774 of these Local
Government Areas.

Most of the schools have no sports facilities, no equipment.

At the initial stage, the emphases will be in identifying schools
that have some level of facilities and help them to develop them for
common use of nearby schools.

It has been four days since the Super Eagles defeated the Leone
Stars of Sierra Leone in Lagos. The game was officially the team’s first outing
under current helmsman Samson Siasia.

Though it was a friendly game ahead of the more important 2012
Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia, which comes up at the end of
next month, last Wednesday’s encounter at the Teslim Balogun Stadium afforded
Siasia an opportunity to get to meet the core of the national team’s top
players – as he sets about the task of re-establishing the Super Eagles as one
of world football’s top sides.

Not a simple task to go about considering the depth Nigerian
football has fallen to after years of neglect and mismanagement by the
country’s sports authorities. The team, which was once rated as high as number
five in the world ranked as low as 82 in November 1999.

The team has risen to international prominence in the 90s,
winning the a second Africa Cup of Nations title in 1994 and a second round
appearance at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups. Since then, the team had been
on a steady decline and it has not won the Africa Cup of Nations title since
then. Also, securing qualification for the World Cup has become a herculean task
for the team; talk more of making it beyond the first round.

The task before Siasia who, after seeing his plans to take on
Guatemala hit the rocks, got a hastily arranged game against Sierra Leone to
serve as his first game in charge of the Super Eagles.

After 90 minutes of football, Siasia’s injury-plagued Super
Eagles side ran out with a slim 2-1 win over the visitors.

But the margin of victory should and ought to have been much
wider but for the profligacy of the Nigerian forward line marshalled by Peter
Utaka, Ahmed Musa and Emmanuel Emenike, who between them have less than a
handful of caps for the Eagles with the latter making his national team debut.

Inexperienced but
spirited

Emenike wasn’t the only debutant in the side. There was also the
Italy-based duo of Michael Odibe and Joel Obi, as well as the Nigerian-based
pair of Ekigho Ehiosun of Warri Wolves and Heartland’s Julius Ubido who both
came into the fray as substitutes.

On the substitutes’ bench, albeit undressed for the game was
another Italy-based midfielder Obiora Nwankwo who couldn’t shake off a thigh
injury thus missing a chance to make his Super Eagles debut on the night.

There was also on the bench the Nigerian-based duo of Osas Okoro
and goalkeeper Bassey Akpan who had both featured in the recent past for the
Super Eagles B side.

Such was the level of inexperience on the night as Siasia was
forced to hand debut caps to as many players as he could, no thanks to the
spate of injuries to some of the earlier invited players.

Even Heartland’s Chibuzor Okonkwo and Holland-based Femi Ajilore
who were in the starting line-up, had only been capped a handful of times while
Israel-based goalie Dele Aiyenugba, although a regular fixture in the Super
Eagles setup for close to seven years, has limited international experience.

And when Osaze Odemwingie, the most experienced member of the
Nigerian forward line finally got the ball into the back of the net midway
through the second half, it was wrongly ruled out for offside.

That notwithstanding, the Super Eagles outplayed their opponents
in every department of the game, particularly in the first half before a series
of substitutions resulted in the team losing its balance, concentration and
structure in the second half which resulted in the Leone Stars’ consolatory
goal.

A section of fans at the stadium failed to realise this fact and resorted to
booing the Eagles after the Leone Stars scored. Perhaps, it was just their own
peculiar way of showing their disenchantment at the FA’s scheduling of a Super
Eagles match in Lagos after seven years. They obviously forgot the purpose for
setting up friendly matches in the first instance. At the end of the day, the
Super Eagles earned a deserved victory, and Siasia got off to a promising
start.

After
emerging as one of the few teams that secured away victories in the
last round of matches in the CAF Champions League, players and
officials of Enyimba FC of Aba are confident that they can get a second
victory over their opponents – Saint Michel du Ouenze from Congo, in
today’s Champions League tie.

In what could be
dubbed a battle of Champions in Brazzaville a fortnight ago, the Aba
Elephants; Nigeria Premier League defending Champions defeated the
reigning Congolese league winners by a lone goal courtesy of a
beautiful strike from Nnemeka Anyanwu in the first half.

With the return leg
billed for the Enyimba International Stadium today, Coach Okey Emordi
says victory is the only thing on his team’s mind again.

“I think we have
done the major part of the work which is to go to Brazzaville to get a
decent result. It is now left to us to finish the job we started by
consolidating on the earlier victory in this Sunday’s return leg game,”
he said.

No complacency

Emordi, a former
CAF Coach of the Year, says his team will be approaching today’s game
with all the seriousness it deserves and would not be complacent
because of the advantage they currently enjoy.

“Yes we are
confident but we will not be complacent, you know in football, it is
not over until the final whistle, they will also fancy their chances
that if we can come over to get a victory in their backyard then they
can do the same thing too but we must not allow that,” he stated.

Emordi continued,
“We are working really hard irrespective of the first leg result. In
fact, we have put that behind us as we look forward to today’s game.”
Already, the Peoples Elephants look to be getting back in their stride
after the defending league champions started the 2010/11 Nigeria
Premier League (NPL) on a shaky note. The team has won its last two
matches in the local league, the latest being a 3-0 drubbing of Kwara
United at today’s match venue, the Enyimba International Stadium.

Emordi said after
the match against Kwara United that the best is yet to come from his
team which emerged as back to back champions in the continent’s biggest
club competition in 2003 and 2004.

Congolese looking for an upset

Coach Massamba
Clemente, Saint Michel du Ouenze’s gaffer knows that his team faces a
tough challenge to get a positive result in Aba today. His job is on
the line following his club management’s threat that he either wins
today’s tie or risk being sacked. The Portuguese coach who is unwilling
to accept defeat remains optimistic of pulling a surprise in Aba.

“We failed to take
advantage of scoring opportunities that were presented to us in the
first leg but we will not give up. We can work to pull a victory in
Nigeria. I know it’s difficult but not impossible,” he argued. The
first leg result could have been different if Saint Michel du Ouenze
had scored from an early minute penalty that was wasted.

Nigerian
international striker, Obafemi Martins, on-loan from Russian club,
Rubin Kazan, has now been permanently transferred to English club
Birmingham.

Martins, 26, joined
Birmingham during the January transfer window with an option to make
the move permanent at the end of the season. But it seems that a deal
was agreed quicker than expected and the former Newcastle man will now
stay in England. ‘Obagoal’ as he is famously known had been sold to
Russia for around £15m.

Martins had
revealed earlier in the week that he was forced to leave Newcastle for
Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga because relegated Newcastle told him they
could not afford to continue to pay him. Birmingham had already paid a
fee of £500,000 for Martins’ loan move.

Martins played his
second game for Birmingham on Tuesday against his former side,
Newcastle, which they lost 2-0. But he said before the match that he
was misrepresented by a section of the Newcastle media who wrote that
he had demanded a transfer from the Magpies to Wolfsburg.

The player who celebrates his goals with somersaults said he still has fond recollections of his stay with Newcastle.

“The only bad memory was when we got relegated.

“We (Newcastle
players) kept asking ourselves, ‘Why are we relegated?’ and we don’t
even know ourselves why we were relegated. We don’t know what was wrong
with the team. There was a problem with the chairman (Mike Ashley), who
we didn’t know whether he was going to stay or sell but Alan Shearer
tried to save the team but he didn’t and it was a sad story.

“It was normal when
I left because they couldn’t afford the money. And that’s why they
asked me to go. “It was definitely the lowest point of my career and it
affected me because when I went to Germany my profile was lower and
they knew my team had got relegated.”

Before the
permanent move to Birmingham was revealed on Wednesday, Martins had
openly expressed desire to stay in the English Premiership with
Birmingham. With the deal concluded, he now has his wish and can repay
his boss, Alex McLeish, with the goals that will keep the 17th placed
club in the Premiership.

Martin scored 39 goals in 105 appearances, in three seasons with
Newcastle – which translates to one goal in three matches. When he
files out with the club on February 26 against defending champions,
Chelsea, at Stamford Bridge, ‘Obagoal’ will be expected to score his
first goal for his club to celebrate his move.

The lingering legal
battle over which company will be the title sponsor of the Nigeria
Premier League will today resume at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi.

The right, which
was formerly given to Total Promotions said to representing telecoms
company, MTN, was cancelled by the Premier League Congress. The
congress said the process which saw MTN emerge as title sponsor for the
league was flawed.

Niyi Alonge,
chairman of Total Promotions had argued that the Premier League had no
justification to cancel the contract, worth over 2.5bn naira for over
four years, it already entered with it.

According to him,
since they had entered into a legal binding contract with the Premier
League, only a court order can invalidate the agreement.

“Total Promotions
Ltd affirms it has a duly executed subsisting contract between the two
parties for the next 4 years. The contract fully states the process by
which it can be vitiated by both parties. No part of this subsisting
legal agreement gives one party the right to act unilaterally. We are
duty bound to await and abide by the courts decision on the subsisting
suit,” Alonge said in a recent press statement.

Binta Murtala
Nyako, who is presiding over the case filed by Total Promotions was
absent at the court’s last sitting which ought to have taken place on
Monday, Feburary 14.

The 2010/2011
league season, which is gradually approaching half way has been dogged
by crisis since it commenced four months ago after strings of
postponement.

Apart from sponsorship problem, the leadership of the league board is also being challenged in some quarters.

Davidson Owumi, who
currently heads the league board was formerly asked to vacate the seat
after a committee said he was not qualified to contest in the elections
which saw him emerge as the league boss. However, Owumi got an
injunction from the Appeal Court staying any action to replace him.

For their part, the management of participating clubs in the league
has called for all matters affecting the league to be settled as soon
as possible.

A Federal High
Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, warned former officials of the Nigeria
Football Federation to avoid any actions capable of frustrating speedy
prosecution of a matter, brought before it by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.

The case, which has
been adjourned till February 25, is based on a charge challenging the
anti-graft agency over an application brought before it by four former
officials of the Football Federation seeking to quash charges of
corruption levelled against them by the agency.

Corruption charges

Sani Lulu Abdulahi,
Amanze Uchegbulam, Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Taiwo Ogunjobi, all former
officials of the Football Federation, are standing trial before Justice
Donatus Okorowa on a seven count charge bordering on corruptly using
their offices to confer unfair advantage on themselves, defrauding the
federal government to the tune of over N1.3 billion naira and $2
million (N300m) and also unlawfully issuing 1,263 tickets as
complementary offers to friends, associates, political support groups
and family relations.

When the matter
came up for hearing yesterday, Lulu, had, through his counsel Sunday
Ameh, applied for an extension of time to enable him file his written
addresses out of time.

Before he adjourned
the case, Okorowa said economic crimes are sensitive and ought to be
diligently and speedily prosecuted. Therefore, he said, the court will
not tolerate any attempt to delay the case and afterwards gave the
prosecutor four days to respond to the motion brought by the former
Football Federation boss seeking to quash the charges brought against
them by the anti-graft agency.

He also gave Lulu’s defence counsel four days to respond on point law to the reply of the prosecution.

Accused of misrepresenting Nigeria

The accused persons
were also alleged to have booked the Hampshire Hotel, South Africa, for
the Super Eagles regardless of the fact that it was cheap, substandard,
and unbefitting and an unlisted hotel among the approved list of hotels
by the Federation of International football Association, FIFA, for
lodging participating teams. The federal government had to pay $125,000
as fine for a breach of contract when it changed hotels subsequently.

Jurisdiction of the court

Ameh challenged the
jurisdiction of the court to entertain the charges brought against them
by the anti-graft agency, saying that it is only FIFA that has
jurisdiction to prosecute them. All other defence counsels agreed with
Ameh.

However,
prosecution counsel, Olasupo Ashaolu, at the resumed hearing of the
case, opposed the application with a 22-paragraph counter-affidavit
praying the court to reject the applications of all the defence
counsels, saying they lacked merit.

Ashaolu further
said the crime committed by the accused persons was committed in
Nigeria and as such, “coming to this court and saying they cannot be
tried by Nigerian laws, except FIFA, is an aberration”.

The prosecution
counsel also faulted the argument by the accused persons to the effect
that the agency did not seek and get the prosecutorial consent of the
Attorney General of the Federation, before commencing trial.

According to
Ashaolu, the agency did not need a fresh consent of the Attorney
General of the Federation to prosecute the case, as the agency has all
the powers and right conferred on it by the Establishment Act to
prosecute all economic and financial crimes.

Ashaolu also said
the approval of funds by the Federation officials were in itself, an
offence; “as there is a limit to which they can appropriate funds as
clearly indicated in the Procurement Act for contract approval”.

He submitted that the applications by the accused persons are meant
to delay trial. He therefore urged the court to discountenance the
applications in their entirety and allow trial to commence.

Barcelona plan to
drop the UNICEF logo from the front of their first-team shirts from
July and replace it with the name of their new Qatari sponsor, a vice
president of the La Liga club said on Tuesday.

The Spanish
champions are one of the few clubs in world soccer not to have a
corporate logo on their shirts, instead displaying the name of the
United Nations Children’s Fund, for which they pay the organisation 1.5
million Euros a year.

However, they last
month agreed a record five-year sponsorship deal with Qatar Sports
Investment worth 30 million Euros a season and will have “Qatar
Foundation” emblazoned on their shirt fronts from July 1.

“It has been
decided that the Qatar Foundation logo will go on the front of the
shirt, on the breast,” Barca vice president Javier Faus said at a news
conference.

“In the end, there
will be only two words ‘Qatar Foundation’ in yellow,” he added. “UNICEF
will go on the back underneath the player’s name.”

The sponsorship
deal, the biggest for any soccer club, will net as much as 170 million
Euros, including 15 million euros for commercial rights for the current
season and a bonus for winning titles that could be as much as 5
million.

The agreement with the Emirate prompted allegations they had sold out and were compromising their ideals for material gain.

Barca officials
argued that the injection of funds at a delicate time for the club’s
finances was necessary to pay for the development of their sports teams.

“We continue to
have significant structural problems, which we have been burdened with
for some years, but which are our structural problems now and which we
have to deal with,” Faus said on Tuesday.

“We have solved some of them with the Qatar Foundation sponsorship deal but we still have many challenges ahead.”

Back logo

Faus said it was
not clear whether the UNICEF logo would be allowed to appear on shirts
worn in the Champions League, Europe’s elite club competition.

“What we can guarantee is that every FC Barcelona shirt that is sold around the world will have the UNICEF logo on the back.”

Qatar was chosen in
December by soccer’s governing body FIFA to host the World Cup in 2022,
when it will become the first Arab country to stage the finals, and
Barca coach Pep Guardiola was one of the ambassadors for the bid.

The sponsorship
deal includes a commitment for the club to play one friendly per season
and the Qatar Foundation will take part in joint projects with UNICEF
and Barca’s own foundation.

Founded by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in
1995, the Qatar Foundation funds projects focusing on education,
scientific research and community development. It is also engaged in
several corporate joint ventures.